by Nicole Fox
“Just where are you two lovebirds going?”
The voice of her father sent a chill down her back, and Kenzie thought she might be sick again as she looked up. Xavier had made it across the basement and to the bottom of the stairs. They could be out of the house in less than a minute if they had a clear path, but Matteo stood at the top of the stairwell. Despite the hour, he was fully dressed in a gray suit and had his hair combed back. His hands were on his hips, brushing back his sport coat to reveal the pistol at his waist.
A tremble of fear shot through Kenzie’s system. Why had she been foolish enough to think that this would ever work? Matteo had a talent for being everywhere at once, or at least making sure his men were. He would never let them go. “I’ve got to get to the doctor,” she said, clearing her throat when she heard how weak she sounded. “Just let us go. Please.”
Matteo took a couple steps down, his face full of cold derision. “Why would I do that? Why would I let the most loyal member of my family—or at least the person who was supposed to be the most loyal member—go running off into the night? I’ve given you everything, Kenzie. You’ve never wanted for a thing, and you let me think that you were about to return the favor once you got your degree. But now I see that I’ve been an idiot ever to trust you.”
“Grateful?” Anger was beginning to drive the weakness out of her body. “How could you expect me to be grateful? You might have bought me clothes and shoes and weekends at the stable, but the only thing I really needed from you was love and respect. I never got that, and I’m sure as hell not going to give it to someone who doesn’t deserve it.”
Her father’s eyes were glittering obsidians as they glared at her. “I suggest you get down off your high horse and march straight back into your room before I do something I won’t regret. You’re just as stubborn and annoying as your mother was, and I should have known better than to ever think you would be someone I could be proud of.”
Kenzie slid out of Xavier’s arms. She longed for the warmth of his skin against hers, but she needed to stand on her own two feet to say what was coming next. “Well, then I’ve got some news for you. I was never going to school to be a lawyer. You and your goons would have figured that out pretty easily if you hadn’t had your heads so far up your own asses. I’ve been going to school for criminal justice, and as soon as I’m finished I’ll be a police officer. I’ll be out there on the street putting men like you away.”
“You just go ahead and try, sweetheart. There’s no way someone as weak and pathetic as you can fight against men like me. If they could, I wouldn’t still be here. Cops and sniveling bikers like your boyfriend here have been trying to put me out of business for decades, but you know firsthand that I’ve only continued to succeed.” He shook his head and laughed a little. “I can’t wait until that little brat of yours is born. I’m going to take him under my wing and show him what it’s like to be a real man. He’ll take over the family for me someday, and I’ll make sure he knows to stay away from women like his mother.”
Kenzie put her hand protectively over her stomach. It was a strange sensation, given that only a few weeks ago she hadn’t wanted to be a mother. “You’ll never know this child, not if I have anything to do with it. Xavier and I are leaving, and we’ll raise this baby the way we want to.” She heard the conviction in her words and hoped that Xavier did, too. Even had she been able to, there wasn’t time to talk to him, not about all this. In the back of her mind, Kenzie knew that this baby they were talking about might already be entirely fictional, judging by the blood she had seen. But none of that was Matteo’s business.
“You’re not going anywhere.” Matteo drew his pistol, keeping it pointed at Xavier.
The biker pulled his weapon as well, which he had holstered in order to pick Kenzie up. He had it steady on Matteo, but it was clear the two of them were at a stalemate.
“Go ahead and pull the trigger. I dare you,” Matteo snarled. “No matter how good of a shot you are, I’ll still have a moment to react. I’ll kill both of you before I even hit the floor.”
The hairs on the back of Kenzie’s neck prickled. There was no place to run. They were trapped in a basement, without even the hope of having a window to climb out of. The racket overhead was building to a crescendo, and she knew that Xavier had not come alone this time. But nobody had come to assist them. Did they even know she and Xavier were down here?
“We both know you won’t do that,” Xavier replied. He looked so calm as he watched the mob man at the top of the stairs. His eyes held an animalistic spark in them, as though he was hunting his prey or perhaps trying to draw it out. “You want the baby, and you know it has no chance if Kenzie doesn’t survive. I don’t doubt you’ll shoot me, though.”
“I guess that means you aren’t as stupid as you look.” Matteo took another step down, bringing him even closer to them. “Tell me what it is that you want. I know it can’t be this dumb slut of a girl. She’s nothing but a pain in the ass, and she started out your relationship by tricking you into bed.”
Xavier tilted his head, his jaw sharp in the fluorescent lights. He really was a beautiful man. He always looked so powerful and confident, but he had never tried to use any of that against her. Kenzie thought that might have been one of the things she liked so much about him, but more than anything it was the fact that he had fought so fiercely to protect her. Even if they both died right here, she would know that someone had finally come along who wanted what was best for her. It was just a shame that it was coming too late.
“Are you trying to bargain with me?” Xavier marveled, clearly blown away by the audacity of the crime boss.
Matteo shrugged. “It’s what I do. You have something I want, Flynn. Give me the baby, and I’ll deal with the girl. I think there just might be a place in the family for a guy like you. It’ll shake up the other men a bit, but I have to admit you’ve got balls. I can pay you more than you can ever imagine, and you won’t need to worry about a thing.”
“I’m sure that would sound irresistible to other men, but I’ve got standards. I could never work for a monster like you.”
It was clear to Kenzie that this was getting them nowhere. The two men would fight this out tooth and nail if they had to, neither one of them willing to concede. She felt defenseless, and it was time to change that. Kenzie glanced around the room, searching for something that would work. There would be no guns just lying around, at least not loaded ones, so she was at a disadvantage regardless. But she wouldn’t let Matteo win this one, not again.
Her eyes landed on an open box off to her left. Someone had probably been in the process of unpacking it when the chaos had broken out upstairs and they had rushed off to help. Bits of Styrofoam had been brushed aside to reveal an array of small knives. They had slim handles and sharply tapered points, attractive little pieces that would easily fit into a belt holster. Glancing at the two men and seeing that they were too focused on each other to look at her, she inched closer to the box until she swept down and snatched up several of them by the handles. One clattered to the floor, swinging Matteo’s attention sharply in her direction. He had only a moment to react as she chucked one of the remaining knives straight up the stairs at him.
It flew through the air, spinning blade over handle as it went. Kenzie sent all her hope behind it, wishing it would stab him right in the eye and send him careening down the stairs as the blood spurted from his skull. But the weapon hit the wall with a clunk and fell without damaging anything.
Matteo’s mouth pursed together firmly, the skin around his lips turning white, until he burst into laughter. “Really? That’s the best you can do? It’s no wonder you’ve been so easy to keep here. You want to be a cop, but I don’t think you could fight your way out of a wet paper bag.”
She hadn’t heard him laugh like that in a long time, and she didn’t like it. It meant that he was truly amused, and that he knew he had once again come out as the man on top. But Kenzie still had one knife in
her hand, and she knew now that she could use it more effectively by keeping it in her palm. “Fine,” she said as she turned it around, resting the tip of it on her stomach. “If you won’t let me out of here alive, then I’ll just have to work around that.”
Her father snorted. “Like you’d do that. I’m not stupid. Then you would kill the baby, too.”
“You’re damn right.” She pressed the knife against her skin so that it made a divot in the front of her nightgown, the material puckering around the blade. “And I’d rather kill both of us than think that either one of us will have to live with you. Let us go, Matteo, or all this blood will be on your hands.”
Matteo’s attention was focused fully on her now. He had nearly forgotten about the biker, but Xavier knew his part. He squeezed the trigger.
Kenzie had heard plenty of gunshots before. She had been to the range with her father and his men. Matteo had killed men who crossed him right in his own living room before. It was never a shock. But the blast that sent a bullet straight up the stairs and into Matteo’s brain held a certain finality to it. It surprised her enough that she dropped the knife. She didn’t know if she should laugh or cry, and she wanted to do both. It was a shame that it had to come to this, but she was finally free.
Xavier grabbed her arm gently, his viridian eyes burning. “Let’s get out of here.”
She gestured helplessly at him, wanting so badly to explain that she couldn’t just run after him. But he seemed to understand, and he scooped her up once again. He barreled up the stairs, and Kenzie felt like she was floating. Before she knew it, they were outside. Men in leather clambered out of the building after them. They shouted, and Xavier was shouting things back, but Kenzie didn’t hear any of it. She just pressed her cheek against Xavier’s chest and listened to the vibrations of his voice. It didn’t matter what he said, because they had finally done it.
The night air was cool against her skin, and even without her feet touching the ground she didn’t think she had ever felt more free. Never again would someone tell her what to do. Never again would she need to worry about what might happen to her if she didn’t obey. Kenzie never would have imagined that she would find her freedom in a man, but as she looked up at Xavier, she knew she had.
He didn’t bother putting her down as he ran across the lawn, and it wasn’t until they were down the street that he finally stopped and turned around. “You might want to see this.” Xavier nodded at a burly man standing on the other side of him.
The man grinned as he pulled a device out of his pocket, flicked back a cover, and pressed a red switch. The Labriola mansion—the home she had grown up in, which had been slowly transformed into a prison as the years went by—exploded. Flames boiled out the broken windows, sending what glass was left crashing down into the lawn. Pieces of the roof flew up into the night sky. The garage door opened, letting one last car escape with its trunk ablaze. She knew she should have been sad, or maybe angry. She could have been thinking of the monetary value of the home and its contents, even if she wasn’t concerned about the sentimental value. But all of it meant nothing to her, and now she had no reason to think about it anymore.
Xavier turned to look at her, gauging her reaction, but his face fell when he saw the tears rolling down her cheeks. “You’re upset? I thought you would be thrilled.”
“I am. It’s just … I need to go to the hospital.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Xavier
As Xavier carried Kenzie out of that hellhole, he knew he was home free. His men were at his back, and as he glanced around him they seemed to all be there. They hadn’t lost any lives, at least not at their location. He would find out how the other parties had done once they all reunited at The Scythe.
He looked down at the woman in his arms, touched by the way she pressed into him. He had been convincing himself that she didn’t really want to have anything to do with him, and that Kenzie would turn her back on him as soon as she was over the threshold of her father’s house. But he had been completely wrong, and his hopes had been more accurate than his fears. Feeling like a new man, he burst out of that place and watched gladly as it exploded.
But all of that changed when he saw the look on Kenzie’s face. He thought at first that he had completely messed up. Xavier had gotten her out, and he knew she wanted that much. But he’d never bothered to ask her where she wanted to live or if the home had meant anything to her. Damn it, he’d never even given her a chance to get her things out. Clothes and furniture could be replaced, but maybe there was something else in that conflagration that she needed.
“I need to go to the hospital.”
Her words were clear, but they rattled around in his brain for a moment. That was the last thing he had been expecting. As though he was suddenly jolted back to life, he began hollering at his men. “Get me a car. I can’t take her on the bike. Get me a car and get us out of here now!” They burst into motion around him, and only a few minutes later he was gently helping Kenzie into the back of a cushy sedan that he was fairly certain had been stolen from the Labriolas. It didn’t matter. Someone would take care of his bike, and right now he was going to take care of Kenzie.
The ride to the hospital seemed to take forever. “What’s wrong?” he asked, trying not to let his fear come through in his voice.
She gestured helplessly at her body and sniffled back her tears. “I don’t really know. I’ve felt awful the entire time, and a doctor came and told me everything was fine. But then there was blood, just before you came, and I don’t know if things really are okay.”
Despite their circumstances, a surge of hope shot through Xavier’s bloodstream. “Does that mean you want to keep the baby?” He resisted laying a protective hand over her stomach. He didn’t want her to do anything rash, but he knew what he wanted.
She nodded, smiling weakly. “I didn’t think I wanted to be a mother. It was just such a big change, and I didn’t want anyone to have to grow up the way I did. It wasn’t right.”
Now he did lay his hand on her. Her body had barely changed since the night he had met her, and there was only the slightest bulge under his palm. Still, he knew it was there, and he knew what it meant. “I’ll make sure that never happens.”
“I know you will.”
The hospital staff rushed her to the back as soon as they arrived and Xavier told them what was happening. Two nurses in scrubs put her in a wheelchair, and one of them looked at him harshly. “Are you the father?”
“Yes.” He waited to be challenged on that. Xavier knew what he looked like. He was a tattooed biker in leather, and this woman probably thought he wasn’t good enough for any young woman.
But she nodded and grabbed him by the arm. “Come on, then.”
He waited patiently while several tests were done, pressing his lips together and letting Kenzie do all the talking. She was the only one that really knew what was going on, after all, and he had hardly been involved up until this point.
Finally, an older man in a lab coat ducked into the room, his cloudy eyes lighting up when he saw Kenzie. “Ah, my dear! I didn’t expect to see you again!”
“Dr. Girtman!” Kenzie looked happy for the first time since they had left her house. “What are you doing here? I thought … I thought …”
“That I was just some black-market doctor at the beck and call of men like your father? No, it was simply an accident that I ended up coming to see you. In my spare time, I go out into the alleys and the bars, the bad parts of town, and I help those who can’t afford it. There are many people who fall through the cracks of the healthcare system, and I do my best to help them.”
She reached out and squeezed his hand. Xavier stood, confused. “You two know each other?”
Kenzie nodded. “He came to help me when I wasn’t feeling well.”
“And I can see that you’ve been … removed from your situation, shall we say?” He shot Xavier a hesitant glance.
“I have,” Kenzie affirme
d. “But I’m so scared. Please tell me I’m all right.”
The doctor consulted his chart for a long moment. “You are. You’ve had a lot of stress already for this first trimester, and it’s taken its toll on you. But you don’t have anything to worry about, Miss Labriola. You and the baby are going to be just fine.”
* * *
Dr. Girtman ordered rest and relaxation for Kenzie, and Xavier did his absolute best to give it to her. He moved into the guest room of his own home in order to give her his bed, which had the most comfortable mattress on it. He insisted that she stay in bed while he brought her meals to her, and during the times that she insisted on getting up he was always close by, in case she needed him.